The invention relates to a semiconductor device with a semiconductor diode comprising a silicon semiconductor body with a semiconductor substrate and a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type which is provided with a first connection conductor and which adjoins a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type opposed to the first and provided with a second connection conductor, the doping concentrations of both the first and the second semiconductor region being so high that the pn junction between the first and the second semiconductor region forms a tunnelling junction. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a device.
Such a device is known from Physics of Semiconductor Devices, by S. M. Sze, John Wiley & Sons, 1969, pp. 150-151. Such devices are attractive on account of their steep current-voltage characteristic in both the forward and the reverse direction and are quite useful in applications such as microwave amplification and switching at high speed.
A disadvantage of the known device is that the forward characteristic, but in particular the reverse characteristic is not yet steep enough for some applications. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a device with an improved, i.e. steeper forward characteristic and especially with an improved reverse characteristic. The invention also has for its object to provide a simple and reliable method for the manufacture of such improved devices.